Thatcher Rejects Plo Role In Mideast Peace Process

May 28, 1986|By Chicago Tribune

JERUSALEM — British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said Tuesday the Palestine Liberation Organization was an unacceptable partner for Mideast peace negotiations and said an alternative Palestinian leadership in the Israeli- occupied territories must now be found.

Thatcher's remarks reflected a major reassessment in Britain's Middle East policy and a shift toward the thinking of Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Western diplomats said.

Thatcher, who ended her four-day visit Tuesday, said finding an alternative to the PLO was the focus of her talks with Israeli leaders but that there was no agreement on how to proceed.

''We must consider an alternative'' to the PLO, she said. ''That is the matter we must consider most closely.''

Thatcher said she had no specific Israeli proposals to take to Jordan's King Hussein, whom she is meeting in London in three weeks. But she said because of her talks with Israeli leaders, she and Hussein ''will have a lot more to talk about.'' She would not elaborate.

The best basis for a solution to the Palestinian problem was a confederation between Jordan and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, she said. The proposal has the backing of the United States, Jordan and the moderate camp inside Israel, led by Peres.

An agreement between Hussein and PLO leader Yasser Arafat to work toward such a confederation collapsed in February over Arafat's refusal to accept U.N. Resolution 242, which recognizes Israel's right to exist.

Thatcher said Hussein could not negotiate with Israel without acceptable representatives of the Palestinian people.

''I've tried in every way I could to persuade the main branch of the PLO to renounce terrorism and accept Israel's right to exist as a condition for negotiating with them,'' Thatcher said. ''If they were prepared genuinely to do that, then there would be a new situation which would make it possible to view the PLO in a different light.''